Marcus Mariota 'absolutely' feels good about chance to play

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans sound more optimistic about Marcus Mariota for the Colts game Monday night than the did last week as the team prepared for a trip to Miami.

But it’ll be at least a couple days, and perhaps Monday, before we have a verdict on whether he’s back from a hamstring injury that knocked him out of the blowout loss in Houston on Oct. 1.

“He did more today than he did last week, so that was a good sign,” Mike Mularkey said. “…He’s got to be able to move around really pretty good to be able to play and not put himself in a position where he’s going to reinjure himself. He’s got to show that by the end of the week.”

Mariota looked fine while throwing in the early part of practice that is open to the media, but he didn’t have to move around much during that.

“I feel a lot better, I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the athletic training staff here, they’ve done a great job and I’m feeling good,” Mariota said. “I was able to participate in a good amount of practice, I wasn’t able to do everything.”

He said he “absolutely” feels good about his chances to play, but I think the odds are small that he would not say something like that.